I haven't worked with Occult rituals before, but regardless we should see if we can get Lord Vezivo to help with removing Urashu and Kizziar's negative levels. Does the primary caster make all the checks, and only if they fail, can a secondary caster make the checks? Can the primary caster only make one of the checks (say, Knowledge (planes)) while the rest of the casters make the other checks?

"I have not, but I wanted to find out if such treatment is even possible here. Also, Urashu volunteered his skill and magic for the ritual - you did not. In truth, you may be more useful keeping watch over us and preventing interruptions than assisting us in the ritual."

After your discussion, you all troop out of your wing, and Jade rises from her crouch, silently leading you through the corridors, and then the teleportation wall. Finally you enter (or re-enter, as the case may be) the library. Bookshelves surround you on all sides, stretching back farther than you can see. In the center of the room is a thick, squat plinth, upon which rests a large book.

The book is bound in stiff, thick black leather, with clasps and locks of electrum, the spine and cover writ on with elegant lines of phosphorescent ink.

To the left of the book stands Lord Vezivo, looking as you remember, but now armed and armored with an expensive looking rapier, and a thick leather jacket over a chain shirt. To the right of the book stands a tall, slender, but still curvaceous woman, her face and little else obscured by a loose, billowy mantle, though her eyes are visible as an emerald glow. She has pale skin and four arms, holding a wand, an orb, and a crystalline knife. Her skin is covered in golden, slowly shifting, symbols and geometric designs.

Lord Vezivo raises an eyebrow.

"I am pleasantly surprised. That was quicker than I would have expected. Hellknight efficacy at it's finest, I suppose," his lips quirk ever so slightly into what might, if closely scrutinized, be considered a smile.

Melii nods at Lord Vezivo. "When we have a task before us, we prefer not to tarry. We are prepared to perform the ritual, my lord, but before we begin, we would ask if there is anything you can do to assist us. Several of my companions were drained during the journey here. If the essence that was taken from them can be restored, it would increase our chances of success."

Greetings least one. My task is to teach and train the mortal, to keep him alive long enough that he'll be a profitable conversion. Though I admit, due to the kinds of things he gets up to, I have vastly increased in potency since his father bound me. the devil mentally shrugs. And yourself?

"Drained? Howso? Permission to touch?" he asks, starting a spell, his hand hovering over your forehead.

"Our ship in crossing Lake Encarthan was blown too close to the center. We encountered an undead corrupted brine dragon whose breath weapon seemed to leach some of the life force of our compatriots. It would be a form of necromantic drain."

It's rather complicated, Kizziar replies. I was assigned as a companion to an aspiring Hellknight diabolist, but he managed to get himself captured and now we're off on a quest to rescue him from a "semi-divine entity" named Hellion, whatever the heaven that means. Working with mortals can certainly be a bit exasperating.

Urashu frowns at Lord Vezivo. “You know of the ravener?” He stops himself before jumping into a series of questions. “Perhaps at a more leisurely time we can discuss that; i have many questions after our most recent encounter. ”

“You know of the ravener? Perhaps at a more leisurely time we can discuss that; i have many questions after our most recent encounter. ”

"Of course. It is a most curious creature to be sure. One moment please," he walks off, disappearing into the stacks. He returns a few minutes later with two vials and a rolled up scroll. He gestures Kizziar and Urashu towards him, then begins chanting in a soft, murmuring voice, eyes closed and hands moving in gentle, ritualized prayer movements. After a few seconds the scroll unfurls itself in front of him and he swipes his hands in front of it, continuing his chant. He then upends the two vials, sparkling crystalline dust pouring out and then hovering in the air in a complex symbol as the spells near completion. With a gentle tap of each forehead, Kizziar and Urashu flash a soft, silvery light as the diamond dust disappears. You both feel vastly improved, the lethargy of the past few days disappearing, and you stand straighter.

Lord Vezivo gives a satisfied nod, setting the vials and now blank scroll down on a nearby desk.

"Yes," Melii says. The medium places the six silver mirrors around the grimoire at equidistant points. She stands with her hands on the book and closes her eyes, leading the others in a chant. She exerts her will on the tome to manipulate the occult energies needed to perform the ritual.

Delightful the spirit says with relish as you finish the ritual and feel the mental pressure from its buildup vanish.

Allow me control for a moment please? he asks.

As the ritual completes you all feel somewhat lightheaded as the mental pressure from the ritual's buildup vanishes. Unfortunately, the faded vision doesn't fade, no matter how much you blink your eyes.

It's hard to see, but judging by the sound, the grimoire is flipping pages incredibly fast, before it finally slams open, and a red light that somehow makes things even darker spreads out from the open pages.

Urashu hesitates, looking over at Melii. Well, he tries to look at Melii, it’s difficult to see anything right now. Morvan’s question cures some of his anxiety; at least he isn’t the only one with poor vision.

From out of the light floats another uniila, like the one that shadows Lord Vezivo. But this one has skin that is like liquid obsidian, absorbing all light. It's mantle is a surprising electric blue, made even more vivid by the contrast with its dark skin, though it is still riddled with infernal sigils.

Roll perception

That it does the devil replies, gesturing with a hand and causing the grimoire to float up to its side. The light that the devil came out of continues to hover over the pedestal, even after the grimoire leaves it. It nods its head and turns to reenter the portal it came out of, the light winking out after it.

Melii chuckles to herself, then turns to face Lord Vezivo.

Your vision should be curable, though it will probably return over time even without magical healing she says distractedly, staring at Vezivo.

Spellcraft: Though you're not currently detecting magic, you are quick enough to detect the subtle change in the barely visible patterns in the spells visual manifestation. Though the spell itself didn't change, some variable of it did.

Knowledge (Planes): Though inter-planar teleportation manifestations technically do not always have a visual consistency, it is a known truth that that is mostly due to the continuous nature of inter-planar teleportation, as opposed to the discrete nature of intra-planar teleportation, and as such most visual representations maintain a manifestation within a specific gradient. That specific shade of emerald light you know is most commonly correlated with the an interesting planar anomaly wherein Heaven and the Ethereal Plane are interconnected via some sort of ancient portal malfunction. There are a multitude of theories as to what happened, but regardless, you know that it is typically heavily guarded by angels and archons for that very reason.

Morvan:

Knowledge (Planes): Though inter-planar teleportation manifestations technically do not always have a visual consistency, it is a known truth that that is mostly due to the continuous nature of inter-planar teleportation, as opposed to the discrete nature of intra-planar teleportation, and as such most visual representations maintain a manifestation within a specific gradient. That specific shade of emerald light you know is most commonly correlated with the an interesting planar anomaly wherein Heaven and the Ethereal Plane are interconnected via some sort of ancient portal malfunction. There are a multitude of theories as to what happened, but regardless, you know that it is typically heavily guarded by angels and archons for that very reason.

"Lord Vezivo." He pauses, then turns to the physical Lord Vezivo. "Uh, that is, Lord Vezivo the successor. We will withdraw, but I would like to confirm that the ritual worked as intended. Can you please confirm the spirit's identity?"

Without turning from Lord Vezivo, Urashu makes a quick gesture behind his back to Morvan. Watch. Magic. He then points to the spirit inhabiting Melii. Wait.

He looks away from Lord Vezivo to the spirit, and then takes a step back in Morvan's direction. His hand unconsciously strays to the holster at his hip.